All My Summons Become Divine Girls

The convoy left the shelter at first light, following the white thread while fog thinned behind the stones and pale mountains appeared ahead.

Loccy carried the dead guardian beside the carts, and the refugees kept their separate tablets wrapped beneath their coats.

Ash walked near the Watcher with his Ringlet covered, though the buried road pulled gently beneath every step.

Hajin reached the front of the convoy and stopped when the last fog folded into a white wall across the valley.

Juna raised one Wing and said, "The fog is leaving the ground, though the sky above it has become one unbroken sheet of white."

Ferra held her copper needle toward the wall and replied, "There is no weather behind that brightness, because the needle finds a vertical current rising through the clouds."

Eirwen studied the pale horizon and said, "The route has brought us to the edge of an old engine, so every person stays behind the marked line until we know what sees us."

Hajin looked toward Ash and answered, "The first view belongs to the child who revealed the direction, though no bell or road decides what he must do next."

Ash touched the Ringlet beneath his sleeve and replied, "I can look without answering, and I will tell you if the road pulls harder."

The white wall parted without wind, exposing a wide plain beneath a sky so pale that the distant clouds disappeared inside it.

Beyond the plain stood a city of high walls, narrow towers, and bridges that crossed empty air between buildings.

At its center, a vertical refusal engine rose from the streets and continued into the white sky until its upper end vanished.

The engine was built from black stone and white metal, with three large rings turning around its middle while smaller structures climbed its sides.

Hajin studied the tower and thought, ’The city built its refusal engine upward so every road, bell, and witness could answer through the same spine.’

No rope moved near the towers, no hand touched the walls, and no person stood beside the road leading toward the city.

Ash stepped beyond the fog line, and every bell in the distant city rang once.

The sound crossed the plain in a single wave, then stopped before the second echo could form.

The refugees froze beside their carts, while Loccy tightened her hold on the dead guardian and Juna opened her remaining Wings against the empty sky.

Hajin kept his hands lowered and said, "Nobody answers the bells, and nobody treats one sound as a request for permission."

Toven looked toward the towers and replied, "The city heard him, though no one touched the ropes, and every family here knows what that usually means."

Ash looked at the engine and asked, "Did it call me, or did it only notice that I was here?"

The Watcher lowered her head and answered, "Those are different questions, so we wait for the city to show which one it asked."

Aria displayed a notice above Hajin’s wrist after the bells faded:

[Last City boundary detected, vertical refusal engine active, distributed custodian signal present]

Hajin read the notice and thought, ’The engine reaches into the sky, though Aria still cannot tell whether the city is alive.’

Rumi placed a white marker beside the road and said, "The return line remains behind us, and the plain has no shifting distance beyond the fog."

Nari checked the convoy records and replied, "The refugees can return to the shelter, though the city has already entered every witness account as a place they must explain."

Eirwen looked toward the high walls and said, "We approach under the Alder writ, with no claim over the city and no promise that its gates will open."

Hajin nodded and answered, "The convoy stays here with a guarded route, while the expedition reaches the first gate with witnesses who can return."

Toven stepped forward and said, "Kester will remain with the families, though Mera and I can carry the separate records to the gate if the city asks."

Mera held her tablet against her chest and added, "We will speak for our own memories, and no city voice will combine them before we finish."

The white sky brightened above the engine, and three rings turned in opposite directions before a narrow road opened through the plain.

Ferra crouched beside the new road and said, "The surface is stable, though the engine has aligned its outer ring with Ash rather than with the writ."

Hajin looked at the road and replied, "Then Ash walks in the middle of the group, never ahead, and no one lets the engine turn his presence into authority."

Ash nodded and said, "I can walk there, and I can stop if the road asks for my hand."

The expedition moved across the plain with the refugees watching from behind, while the white sky reflected every person as a faint figure above the city.

Above the plain, Ash’s reflection appeared at the center of the engine before the real group reached the first wall.

Juna looked up and said, "The sky copied his position, though the copy has no body and no Ringlet pulse."

Hajin kept his gaze on the reflection and answered, "Then the engine is measuring an imprint, and we do not give it another one by using power."

The Watcher stepped closer to Ash and said, "The old network recognizes a child who can answer a refusal node, though recognition never grants ownership."

At the first gate, the engine’s lower ring slowed as Ash reached the wall, and a line of white script appeared across the black stone.

Nari read the first line and said, "It asks for a custodian designation, though the wording leaves the answer unfinished."

Ash looked at the script and replied, "I don’t have one to give, and I won’t accept one just because the city needs a word."

After Ash’s refusal, the script faded, and the gate remained closed while a second line appeared beneath it.

Eirwen read the new line and said, "It asks whether the road brought a living witness, a returning custodian, or an outside authority."

Hajin stepped beside Ash and answered, "It brought a living witness under a legal writ, while the people inside remain free to refuse our entry."

One handspan of gate opened, releasing cold air that smelled of stone, ash, and water kept below ground.

No guard appeared in the gap, though many faces watched from narrow openings high in the wall.

Loccy lowered the corpse beside the outer road and said, "The dead guardian stays with the refugees until the city tells us whether it recognizes the body."

The Watcher touched the covered chest and replied, "It deserves a place beyond another command, so the city must ask before it takes the body inside."

Hajin looked through the narrow gate and thought, ’The Last City has answered with bells, script, and an open handspan, though its first welcome still sounds like a test.’

The expedition stopped before the threshold, with Ash between the engine’s shadow and the people who had chosen to follow him.

The three engine rings resumed their opposing turns above the gate.

Ash covered his Ringlet, and the citizens watched him choose not to answer the first bell.